The Red Thread
by Keep Moving Onwards
Summary: "I'll only hurt you. We can't be together anymore." Relationships aren't always perfect, Conner and Zatanna love each other, but will they find their way back into each other's arms?
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: Yes, everyone's OOC. That is the point. The pairing is so implausible in cannon that it's really fun to speculate on.**

He shouldn't be with her and she shouldn't be with him. They were both lethal to each other, opposing entities. She shouldn't love him, when she knew he could snap her like a twig. He shouldn't love her, when he knew that she was one of his greatest weaknesses. No matter how they tried to spin it, no matter what angle they looked at it from, it was wrong. For better of for worse they loved each other anyways.

- Break Line -

Conner walked down the hall of Mt. Justice and opened the door to his room. He was surprised to find Batman standing, in his 'intimidation mode' as Wally called it in the center of the room.

"Superboy, I need to discuss something with you."

Conner sat on his bed, confused. "What about?" he asked.

"Your relationship with Zatana."

The boy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What about it?"

"To simplify, you can't be dating, you can't be together, and you'll only hurt each other. "

"We both agreed, we don't care, we love each other regardless of what anyone says. No matter what her father or anyone else wants."

Batman sighed. Why had he let Flash convince him that he should be the one to talk to the kid? "Conner, you have the same weaknesses as Superman, which means your vulnerability to magic is considerable, but you can survive near it, and Zatana has full control over her abilities. You on the other hand, have dangerous amounts of power and little control."

Conner crossed his arms, "She said she trusts me."

"She may trust you, but do you trust yourself?" Batman left the room, his cape billowing out behind him as he left the teen to contemplate his words.

- Break Line -

Zatana walked into the kitchen to see her boyfriend leaning against the walls brooding. She walked over to him and placed her arms around him.

Conner turned to look at her, still wearing his 'deep thought' look.

"What's wrong?" the witch asked.

Conner bit his lip, "Have you ever thought about what would happen if I lost control?"

Zatana stepped back, looking up at him confused, "No, what's wrong?" she asked.

Conner looked at her, so beautiful, so fragile, so… breakable. He pushed her away softly. "I'm sorry… I can't do this."

Zatana looked at him, shocked. "What? What do you mean 'you can't do this'? What's wrong?"

"I'll only hurt you." Conner said softly, a bitter tint in his voice. "We can't be together anymore."

With that he walked out of the room, leaving behind a devastated young witch.

- Break Line -

Zatana sat on her bed, sobbing. Why had Conner suddenly done that? Did he really hate her? She felt a soft hand on her sholder and looked up to see Cassie, Me'gan and Babs standing next to her.

Artemis was sitting next to her on her bed with an arm around her shoulder. "Girls night out?" she asked.

- Break Line -

Robin glared at a security footage, which he had brought up on his gauntlet. Watching it for the third time, exactly what had happened began to set in. He rushed out of the room. Conner wasn't going to go back into his shell, not after it took so long for the boy to open up to them.

Robin headed down the hall and stopped at the training room. Conner was punching a punching bag, and slowly turning it into mulch.

"What the hell dude?" Robin said.

Conner turned around, surprised to see the ninja.

"Last week you told me that she was the best thing that had ever happened to you! And now you turn around and dump her?" Robin seethed.

Conner turned back to the punching bag, avoiding eye contact. "It's for her own safety." He muttered.

"What gave you that idea?" Robin's eyes narrowed.

"If I lose control of my strength, she'll get hurt." His voice was numb and resigned.

"Who told you that?" Robin asked.

Conner punched the bag, shattering the chain and sending it flying across the room where it made a crater in the wall. He stormed off, brushing past Robin who immediately began scanning the security footage on his gauntlet, looking for the source of Conner's sudden attitude change.

It didn't take him long to find it.

Dick groaned, "Wonderful, just wonderful."

- Break Line -

Conner punched a hole into the wall, leaving a large crater.

He sighed and picked up a pen.

_Dear team,_

_I'm quitting… or at least leaving, for a while. Had a little romantic fall out and I don't want it to affect the team._

_-Conner Nelson_

Yeah, so it was short, why should he care? It said what he needed to say, and people would understand it.

He looked at the note and remembered the day he discovered the real reason they had given him the last name 'Kent'. Obviously Conner had immediately changed it. They'd been upset but when he pointed out that the most accurate last name would be 'Luthor' they'd let it go.

Conner walked out.

**Yeah, Cliffie, this is going to be a two shot. So look out for the next chapter.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE! IT REALLY HELPS ME GET MOTIVATED!**


	2. Chapter 2

Conner found himself on a park bench in Metropolis.

Part of him was hoping that Superman wouldn't come and kick him out, like he had every other time the geno-morph had been in the city. But most of him was consumed by sorrow. He loved Zatana. He desperately tried to put out of his mind the broken expression on her face when he had told her that he was breaking up with her.

He hadn't seen her so grief stricken sense the death of her younger cousin who had, in an act of self sacrifice, taken on the helmet of fate in order to save her, her father, and the entire world.

Conner had his head in his hands. In his attempt to save her from him, had he really caused her that much pain? Could he really cause her that much pain?

"Conner?" The teen looked up at the sound of his name, and to his surprise and apprehension the man standing behind the bench with a concerned look on his face was none other than Lex Luthor.

"What are you doing here?" Superboy tried to sound hostile and spiteful, but he choked on a sob, so it must've come off more dejected than anything.

The man put his hand on Conner's shoulder. "Let's go inside, it'll be much easier to talk there."

**BREAK LINE**

It was stupid, a moment of weakness and depression that had caused Conner to, of his own free will, follow Lex into the building. When the door shut behind them, he started to realize the stupidity of his actions. "What do you want Luthor?"

The man sighed, "I really wish you would at least use my first name, it makes it so much easier to communicate on a personal level."

Conner grunted irritably, glaring at his genetic donor.

"Whether or not you choose to acknowledge it, you are my son, and as such I feel that it is my responsibility to help you through this stage of your life."

"Not like you care." The genomorph crossed his arms.

"I do care… more than you could really understand. Being a parent… is something you have to experience in order to accurately grasp." The man sighed, "I just hope you understand that you'll always have one parent looking out for you."

Conner's eyes went wide, "…how did you know about…"

Lex smiled sadly, sitting on at his desk and gesturing for Conner to also take a seat. "If there's one thing I know it's the man of steel. I was at first, surprised at his reaction to you, but after I saw it for myself I realized the inevitability of his course of action."

"You created me to kill him."

"That was not my intent, and it was much more complicated than that. Now why don't you tell me what you were doing sobbing on a park bench."

"I had to break up with my girlfriend because I might lose control and hurt her," Conner blurted out. Why couldn't he just shut up? He shouldn't be telling Luthor this!

"I see, I was wondering when something like this would come up." Lex dug into his pocket and pulled out a small yellow band.

Conner instantly tensed. "I'm not interested in another drug gift."

Lex smiled, in a way that was more wholesome than his usual smirk. "It's not a one time use. When you wear it, it will partially suppress your Kryptonian DNA. The effects are not permanent and the bracelet won't need to be replaced like the shields did. If you want, you can give it to your friends with the space station and have them look at it. Or you don't even have to take it, your choice."

Conner looked at the bracelet. It couldn't hurt to have a closer look at tech supposedly intended to suppress his Kryptionian DNA, and he won't wear it if it didn't work. Just drop it off at watchtower real quick.

"Sure." He took the band that Lex held out.

Suddenly a light on Lex's desk started blinking. "It seems that your other genetic donor has decided to pay me a visit. It probably would be best if you weren't here when he got here."

Conner nodded, quickly getting up and walking out. At the door he turned back, looking at the man as he got out some paperwork so it would look like he had been working on it. "Thanks… dad."

**Yes, I said this would be a two shot, but it's going to longer. **


End file.
